StoryBoard Media to Release ‘Too Late to Die Young’ in Chile (EXCLUSIVE)
By Anna Marie de la Fuente
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – SANTIAGO DE CHILE — “Too Late to Die Young” (“Tarde Para Morir Joven”), Dominga Sotomayor’s coming-of-age drama, has been picked up by Santiago-based producer-distributor , which aims to release the drama in Chile by May next year.
Likened by some to “Call Me Your Name” for its evocative tale, “” snagged Sotomayor a Best Director Leopard at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, the first female director to receive this coveted prize. Paris-based Stray Dogs secured world sales rights to “Too Late to Die Young” (except for Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Benelux) in the run-up to Locarno.
The film had its Chilean premiere at the 14th Santiago Intl. Film Festival (Sanfic, Aug. 19-26), where it played to sold-out screenings.
StoryBoard plans to release “Too Late…” in up to 35 commercial and indie screens across Chile, said StoryBoard Media producer and Sanfic industry director, Gabriela Sandoval .
Well aware that Chilean auds rarely turn up for local auteur films, despite international accolades, StoryBoard Media is organizing a full-blown campaign that includes premieres and Q & As, and are confident that the film’s popular cast and Sotomayor’s international recognition will lure an audience, both indie and mainstream.
Chile is also vastly under-screened, with just a total of 438 screens, mostly dominated by Hollywood fare. Auteur films last a week or two at most, especially, if they play poorly. The best foreign-language Oscar win for Sebastian Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman,” made it an exception, where it was re-released after its award in response to growing demand, said StoryBoard Media producer-partner and Sanfic artistic director, Carlos Nunez.
In a bid to partly address these issues, Sotomayor has teamed up with other filmmakers to build an ambitious new film center dubbed Centro de Cine y Creacion (CCC). Funded by both public and private investors, the $1.5 million restoration of a large house built in 1913 will begin in September.
Located in the heart of Santiago, the non-profit film center is slated to open next year with a 30-seat screening room in its first phase and a 100-seat theatre in its second phase of construction.
CCC will include offices, a terrace with an open-air cinema and offer workshops, among sundry activities. “We are planning to form part of a Latin American network of art house cinemas,” she said.
“It’s going to be a film center run by filmmakers,” said Sotomayor whose founding partners include editor Catalina Marin, architect Rafaela Behrens and director-actress Manuela Martelli.
